Just months after Harvard stunned the research community by announcing the closure of the half-century-old New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC)—as reported in the Summer 2013 AWI Quarterly—USDA announced that it had fined Harvard Medical School a paltry $24,036 for 11 violations of the Animal Welfare Act that occurred between 2011 and 2012.

Evidence is accumulating that dogs work wonders when paired with members of the military with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a traumatic brain injury (TBI), or another mental health issue arising from their military experiences.

An undercover investigator, Taylor Radig, put herself at significant personal risk in order to expose animal cruelty at the Quanah Cattle Company, a calf-raising facility in Kersey, Colorado. The investigator filmed appalling images of young calves being kicked, dragged, thrown, and slammed as employees removed them from trucks.

Approval is being rescinded for three of four arsenic-based drugs that had been used in animal feed. Of the 101 drug products derived from these four drugs, 98 will have their approval withdrawn by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Food and Drug Administration claims to want to reduce non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Currently, farmed animals are administered antibiotics through feed or drinking water to make them quickly gain weight and ward off disease in crowded, filthy, inhumane living conditions.

AWI and Farm Sanctuary, working with the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, have petitioned the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop regulations governing the handling of chickens, turkeys and other birds at slaughter.

AWI’s Good Husbandry Grants—administered through AWI’s Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) farm certification program—were initiated in 2008 to support individual projects on farms and ranches across North America that have a clear and positive impact on animal welfare and promote the ability of animals to express natural behaviors while being raised outdoors, on pasture.

On January 17, hundreds of bottlenose dolphins were herded to shore in Taiji, Japan—one of many dolphin drives that take place there during dolphin hunting season, which generally runs from September through March.

Two Tennessee men pleaded guilty in early January to selling tusks from over 100 narwhals over a 10-year period. The sales, conducted over the Internet and directly to known collectors, reaped more than $1.5 million for the traffickers, Jay Conrad of Lakeland and Eddie Dunn of Eads.

Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) have made a huge comeback in Florida, where most of their nests are located in the United States. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there were only 62 nests in the state in 1979.

A host of musicians who had been slated to appear at SeaWorld Orlando as part of a concert series at the park have changed their tune—electing to bow out rather than take bows before a captive audience of orcas.